Cat owners fear pet poisoner at large

11:13am Friday 23rd November 2007

Owners fear a serial cat killer could be on the loose after the mysterious deaths of four animals.

The attacks began two weeks ago. Jon Yard, 40, of Squires Close, Crawley Down, realised his pedigree pet Poppy had been poisoned. He took her to a vet but she died a week later.

Days afterwards, neighbour Dorothy Hatwell put a leaflet through Mr Yard's door to say two of her cats had been poisoned and found dead. Two days later there was another report of a poisoned pet.

In each case vets found the cats had antifreeze in their systems.

Antifreeze contains ethylene glycol. The chemical is colourless and odourless but the syrupy alcohol derivative tastes sweet and attracts cats.

Vets estimate it would take four tablespoons of antifreeze to kill a single cat.

Owners of the dead animals scoured the neighbourhood for traces of the poison but found nothing.

Mr Yard, whose cat was worth £250, said: "She came home with a mysterious pellet wound about a year ago so we kept a close eye on her and tried to make sure she wasn't out all the time.

"Then two weeks ago she came home looking as if she was drunk. She was swaying and when you put her down she fell straight over.

"We took her to the vet's immediately. They put her on a drip and said she'd been poisoned.

We paid £450 in vet fees to keep her alive but after a week she had no hope of survival and had to be put down.

"It was very upsetting for my eight-year-old daughter."

Vets said by the time the symptoms showed, the cats' kidneys were already too damaged to survive.

Mr Yard said all the victims had behaved in the same way.

and said: "The time difference between the deaths makes me very suspicious."

RSPCA inspector Rachel Bell said: "I haven't seen a case like this before. I know not even one cat has been killed by antifreeze for many years."

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